Evaluation of Problematic Media Use in Children with Cerebral Palsy Aged 4-11 Years: A Case-Control Study

Background/Objectives: Excessive screen exposure that negatively impacts a person's life is referred to as problematic media use (PMU). In healthy children, PMU is associated with a sedentary lifestyle and negative health outcomes. However, this issue is not well understood in children with cerebral palsy (CP). The aim of our study was to evaluate PMU and screen exposure times in children with CP. Methods: All CP patients with variable etiology who were followed up at the child neurology clinic and met the inclusion criteria were included in our study. A total of 91 patients diagnosed with CP and 92 control children, aged 4-11, participated in the study. Daily screen exposure times, sleep durations, and body mass index (BMI) were evaluated. In children with CP, additional data such as the need for special education, CP subtype, epilepsy status, and mobility status were recorded. All participants were administered the long form of the Problematic Media Use Scale, which is valid for children aged 4-11. Results: When comparing screen exposure between the patient group and the control group, the patient group had significantly higher screen exposure (p < 0.001). Spearman's rho correlation coefficients, calculated to evaluate the relationship between age, sleep duration, screen exposure time and screen addiction questionnaire scores of the children in the patient and control groups, were statistically significant. For the patient group specifically, there was a significant positive relationship between screen exposure duration and screen addiction questionnaire scores (r = 0.380, p < 0.001). Conclusions: In our study, it was seen that problematic media use was no different in CP patients within the same age group. However, screen exposure durations were found to be higher than in the normal population.